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Hello,
I am new to this forum and to I Ching. While I firmly believe in the continuance of the spirit after death, I have been stumped on question of "why now" at my father's recent passing. He was 66, just retired, had saved up a very large retirement account and was determined to enjoy his last years, so he often said. But he died suddenly and unexpectedly while on vacation in Alaska, his body wasn't found for hours, positioned as if he had taken a couple steps and then fallen. The coroner surmised he died of a Cardiac Disrythmia or Sudden Death Syndrome. He was a healthy and active who was very involved in his children and grandchildren lives. He was also a deeply religious person (He was a Morman). I often wonder what was going through his mind those last few moments when he realized what was happening. I wish to understand the purpose of the timing of his death in the large comic picture.
Below is the I Ching reading I received. Any help with interpretation is greatly appreciated!
Why did my dad die suddenly?
Your reading resulted in the following hexagrams:
changing to
9 23
Hexagram 9, Small Taming
Key Questions
What small thing can I work on today?
How can I cultivate a better terrain?
Oracle
‘Small taming, creating success.
Dense clouds without rain
Come from my Western altars.’
To ‘tame’ is to restrain and also to accumulate and nurture: it’s what the farmer does. Here, the mall farmer cultivates the soil of his own small plot, hoping the offerings made at the Western altars will bring rain.
The Zhou people, like the clouds, came from the West. Before they were ready to receive he Mandate of Heaven and bring about change, they prepared for many decades, cultivating heir society like earth. So a time of Small Taming brings great hope for future growth and success – it’s just that, at present, there is no rain, only clouds, and all they have brought so far is gloom. This means ‘small restraint’, the experience of small, frustrating setbacks and things that don’t quite work yet. However, this also brings advice to cultivate the situation and yourself in small ways, developing your readiness and fitness just as a small farmer works the soil. You can’t make things grow in a single gesture, and so you need self-restraint: you have to work steadily, responding conscientiously to the realities here at ground level, caring for the small details.
Image
‘Wind moves above heaven: Small Taming.
A noble one cultivates the natural pattern of character.’
Sequence
Small Taming follows from Hexagram 8, Seeking Union:
Seeking union naturally has occasion to tame things, and so Small Taming follows.’
Pair
Small Taming forms a pair with Hexagram 10, Treading:
‘Small Taming is solitary; Treading does not come to rest.’
Changing Lines
Line 1
‘Returning to your own path,
How could you be wrong?
Good fortune.’
Line 2
‘Drawn back, returning.
Good fortune.’
Line 3
‘A cart losing its wheel spokes.
Husband and wife avert their eyes.’
Line 5
‘There is truth and confidence as a bond.
Rich in your neighbour.’
Hexagram 23, Stripping Away
Key Questions
What has worn out?
Is there a less painful way to let this go?
What is underneath the surface?
Oracle
‘Stripping away.
Fruitless to have a direction to go.’
The surfaces are cut and sliced away; the old and unviable is stripped back to expose the living core. This inevitable, natural process often feels like a flaying: the more you have invested of yourself in these old things, the more painful it will be.
It’s no good, at such times, to imagine the future and make plans. You need to bring your energy back to the centre and honour the process: this is a time to be transformed, not to act. Moreover, until the old is so utterly stripped from you that you have no choice but to think in new ways, you will only be able to re-create the old patterns.
Image
‘Mountain rests on the earth: Stripping Away.
The heights are generous, and there are tranquil homes below.’
Sequence
Stripping Away follows from Hexagram 22, Beauty:
‘Involved in brightening the appearance; this means success will be truly exhausted, and so Stripping Away follows.’
Pair
Stripping Away forms a pair with Hexagram 24, Returning:
‘Stripping away: rotten. Returning: turnaround.’
I am new to this forum and to I Ching. While I firmly believe in the continuance of the spirit after death, I have been stumped on question of "why now" at my father's recent passing. He was 66, just retired, had saved up a very large retirement account and was determined to enjoy his last years, so he often said. But he died suddenly and unexpectedly while on vacation in Alaska, his body wasn't found for hours, positioned as if he had taken a couple steps and then fallen. The coroner surmised he died of a Cardiac Disrythmia or Sudden Death Syndrome. He was a healthy and active who was very involved in his children and grandchildren lives. He was also a deeply religious person (He was a Morman). I often wonder what was going through his mind those last few moments when he realized what was happening. I wish to understand the purpose of the timing of his death in the large comic picture.
Below is the I Ching reading I received. Any help with interpretation is greatly appreciated!
Why did my dad die suddenly?
Your reading resulted in the following hexagrams:
changing to
9 23
Hexagram 9, Small Taming
Key Questions
What small thing can I work on today?
How can I cultivate a better terrain?
Oracle
‘Small taming, creating success.
Dense clouds without rain
Come from my Western altars.’
To ‘tame’ is to restrain and also to accumulate and nurture: it’s what the farmer does. Here, the mall farmer cultivates the soil of his own small plot, hoping the offerings made at the Western altars will bring rain.
The Zhou people, like the clouds, came from the West. Before they were ready to receive he Mandate of Heaven and bring about change, they prepared for many decades, cultivating heir society like earth. So a time of Small Taming brings great hope for future growth and success – it’s just that, at present, there is no rain, only clouds, and all they have brought so far is gloom. This means ‘small restraint’, the experience of small, frustrating setbacks and things that don’t quite work yet. However, this also brings advice to cultivate the situation and yourself in small ways, developing your readiness and fitness just as a small farmer works the soil. You can’t make things grow in a single gesture, and so you need self-restraint: you have to work steadily, responding conscientiously to the realities here at ground level, caring for the small details.
Image
‘Wind moves above heaven: Small Taming.
A noble one cultivates the natural pattern of character.’
Sequence
Small Taming follows from Hexagram 8, Seeking Union:
Seeking union naturally has occasion to tame things, and so Small Taming follows.’
Pair
Small Taming forms a pair with Hexagram 10, Treading:
‘Small Taming is solitary; Treading does not come to rest.’
Changing Lines
Line 1
‘Returning to your own path,
How could you be wrong?
Good fortune.’
Line 2
‘Drawn back, returning.
Good fortune.’
Line 3
‘A cart losing its wheel spokes.
Husband and wife avert their eyes.’
Line 5
‘There is truth and confidence as a bond.
Rich in your neighbour.’
Hexagram 23, Stripping Away
Key Questions
What has worn out?
Is there a less painful way to let this go?
What is underneath the surface?
Oracle
‘Stripping away.
Fruitless to have a direction to go.’
The surfaces are cut and sliced away; the old and unviable is stripped back to expose the living core. This inevitable, natural process often feels like a flaying: the more you have invested of yourself in these old things, the more painful it will be.
It’s no good, at such times, to imagine the future and make plans. You need to bring your energy back to the centre and honour the process: this is a time to be transformed, not to act. Moreover, until the old is so utterly stripped from you that you have no choice but to think in new ways, you will only be able to re-create the old patterns.
Image
‘Mountain rests on the earth: Stripping Away.
The heights are generous, and there are tranquil homes below.’
Sequence
Stripping Away follows from Hexagram 22, Beauty:
‘Involved in brightening the appearance; this means success will be truly exhausted, and so Stripping Away follows.’
Pair
Stripping Away forms a pair with Hexagram 24, Returning:
‘Stripping away: rotten. Returning: turnaround.’